Little Girl Lost
by sandra70
Summary: based on a prompt that simply said: Ikea. Emma's and Killian's daughter needs a new bed. The little pirate princess gets annoyed when her daddy and her grandfather get into a fight. Emma is not amused.


"You gotta be kidding me!" Emma's exasperated voice made a few heads in the Ikea section of bedsits turn around.

Killian raised his hand in a futile attempt to soothe her. "Swan, calm down..."

"Calm down?!" she echoed in disbelief and hissed: "You lost our _daughter!_ "

David felt a little guilty himself and tried to help. "Emma..."

She whirled around to her father. "You're not one tad better, dad!" she cut him off angrily. "You lost your granddaughter _and_ your son!"

Turning away from the men, her green eyes scanned the near surroundings nervously. She wasn't overly worried, because she knew that Leia and Neal couldn't be very far, and of course they'd find them again soon enough. But still – they were only five and seven years old, and _damn_ , two fucking adults had been watching them! She just couldn't wrap her mind around the fact that her father and Killian had both been present and yet, the kids had disappeared. Leia had been thrilled when they'd told her that they were going to Ikea to pick out a new bed for her because she was a big girl now and had outgrown her old bed; all the more she'd squealed when she'd heard that her grandpa and her beloved Neal (who was technically her uncle) were going to accompany them. They'd been looking at various beds in fancy forms – racing cars, starships, castles, strawberries and numerous others – and the kids delighted in exploring them. Emma had left the men and the kids for maybe five minutes, not more, to look at coffee tables in the adjoining section, and when she'd come back she'd found Killian and her father heatedly arguing over something; she'd interrupted them with a frown and asked where the kids were, and they'd both looked around hectically and murmured something like _"they were here a minute ago"_.

David cleared his throat. "Well, technically we..."

"How did that even happen?!" she interrupted harshly and flared her nostrils in anger when she felt Killian's firm touch on her shoulder.

"Swan," he tried again, "there's no need to overdramatize..." But he fell silent when she whirled around and stabbed him with her death glare. He tilted his head in a somewhat sheepish shrug, the tips of his ears turning slightly pink. "Well, perhaps Dave and I were a little distracted..."

"Distracted?! _How?_ " she demanded to know.

Killian scratched behind his ear and looked at David. _I could use a little help here, mate._ Emma's father exchanged a quick glance with him and tried to explain. "Killian and I were..." he paused for the blink of an eye to look for the right word, "... _pondering_ over the question which bed would fit Leia best, and..."

Emma furrowed her brow in disbelief when it dawned on her what had been going on, and raised both hands, shaking her head. "Wait, dad... are you telling me that you two... _knuckleheads_ were fighting over a piece of _furniture_ , and my daughter and little brother just wandered off?! _Really?_ " She threw her hands in the air in exasperation. "What kind of fathers are you?!"

David averted his eyes and shuffled his feet uncomfortably. Killian tilted his head in a sheepish gesture. "Please, love, nobody gets lost in a place like this," he swayed out his hand in an all-encompassing move, but he too was scanning the surroundings in a slightly worried way. "They can't be far," he added.

"He's right, Emma," David piped up again.

Emma whirled around to the men. "Ah, so _now_ you agree!" she snorted, sarcasm dripping from her lips, and shook her head. "I don't believe this. Wait until mom gets wind of it, you two are _so_ screwed." If she hadn't been that upset, she'd have found the alarmed glance hilarious that her father and her husband exchanged. She growled: "Damn, I'd really like to..." Then, suddenly, her eyes popped open, and she gasped: _"Oh my God_ , they're over there!"

Killian's and David's eyes flew to the direction where she was pointing; the little blonde girl was coming their way in an unhurried pace, dragging the slightly taller, raven-haired boy by the hand.

"Leia!" Emma called, her voice a nuance higher than usual. "Neal! Where have you been? We were worried!" Maybe something in her voice, probably the relief, made the children quicken their steps now, and the little girl ran into her mother's arms, her right arm reaching out for her father at the same time.

"You shouldn't have done that, lassie," Killian murmured and squeezed the chubby little hand in his big one.

David ruffled Neal's hair. "Don't do that again, Neal," he scolded mildly, way too relieved.

"She made me," the boy pouted. "You know Leia..."

Killian grinned and thought it safe to joke again. "Like mother, like daughter." Emma gave him her iciest _really?_ -glare, and he went on hastily: "But your mother is right, of course. You shouldn't have wandered away."

"I was bored," the little girl defended herself and raised her chin in that stubborn way that was a mirror of her maternal grandmother. "You and grandpa were fighting!"

He hunkered down in front of his daughter and looked her ruefully in the eyes; _those_ were a mirror of his own, though. "We were not fighting, lassie. We were just... debating. But we shouldn't have. I apologize, m'lady."

The girl giggled and rolled her eyes. "Oh, daddy!"

"I apologize, too," David declared solemnly. "And of course you can choose any bed you like. And _be_ anything you like."

"First reasonable thing I hear," Emma muttered under her breath.

David swayed out his arm. "You can be a princess and slay dragons, or..."

"I don't want to slay dragons!" his granddaughter exclaimed indignantly. "They are cute! Auntie Lily is a dragon!"

Killian threw his father-in-law a triumphant smirk and remarked a little smugly: "As I said, being a pirate..."

Leia turned to him and put her chubby hands to her hips. "I don't want to be a pirate either, daddy," she interrupted much to her father's dismay, and added firmly: "Stealing is _wrong_." His face fell a little, but softened when she went on: "And I don't want to sail away and leave you all behind."

Emma smiled fondly down at her girl. "And what do you want to be, baby?" she asked.

The little girl turned her blue eyes to her that looked so strikingly like her father's, and replied eagerly: "Mommy, I want to be a storyteller! Like Henry. He tells great stories." She nodded as to make her point. "Henry says words are powerful." Emma pressed her lips together in a proud smile and stroked the blonde head.

Killian nodded ruefully. "Your brother is right, lassie," he told his daughter and tilted his head. "He's much wiser than your old dad here."

David sighed. "And your old grandpa here," he added. "Look, Leia, you can really be anything you want. You can be a storyteller, of course. Or a princess who... _tames_ dragons." he threw his mate a sideways glance. "Or one of the _good_ pirates. You know, those like your dad, who fight the villainous ones." Killian turned his eyes to David without moving his head and raised an eyebrow while he received the bro nod from his father-in-law. Emma witnessed the exchanged and rolled her eyes. How had she ever deemed them adults?

"I like this bed over there, mommy. Can I have it?" The three adults looked the way she pointed; across the aisle stood a large, nicely crafted wooden bed without any of the girly or piratey ornaments David's and Killian's respective beds of choice bore. It was almost plain and simple, but it was shaped like an opened book.

"That's an excellent pick, baby," Emma commented and added fondly: "Henry will love it. But listen, you can't just walk away and disappear," she added, determined to repeat the lesson. "We were all worrying!"

Leia threw her mother an earnest glance. "But mommy, you didn't have to worry about me," she told her, and for a heartbeat Emma heard Killian's voice in her head: _I told you I'm a survivor._ But then the girl went on: "Henry says in our family we always find each other."

All three adults exchanged glances, and just for the blink of an eye each one of them thought back to one of the numerous occasions that statement had proved to be true. Then Emma cleared her throat and said: "Okay, honey... Henry's right, but still – there's no need to get lost in the first place, okay?"

Leia nodded solemnly. "Okay, mommy."

"Then let's go and buy this bed for you."

They turned all to the direction of the bed to examine it further; David said quietly, but with a certain urge to his voice to his daughter: "Emma... your mother doesn't need to hear about this."

She rooted to the spot and turned around to face him. Killian was standing right beside him and nodded eagerly. "I second that, love."

Emma tried – not very successfully – to suppress a grin and rolled her eyes. "You wish." Oh, she was going to hold this over their heads for a long time.


End file.
